


Fire in the Hole

by StBridget



Series: Here Be Dragons [1]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 10:39:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11758113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StBridget/pseuds/StBridget
Summary: Turns out, these smugglers are smuggling more than humans.





	Fire in the Hole

**Author's Note:**

> I just lost my cat, so I needed some fluff. I couldn't do an end of life fic for my Ninja verse over on FFN, for obvious reasons (and I'm inclined to agree with my mom--Ninja will never die), and he's based off my cat, so any story was a bit much. I wanted to do a story where Jack finds a kitten, but I couldn't even handle that. So, you get dragons. There's considerably more explosions and gunfire than I intended, but oh, well. Hope you enjoy it!

“Damn human traffickers,” Jack Dalton cursed as he and his partner Angus “Mac” MacGyver dove behind a packing crate, out of the line of fire of said traffickers.  “Why do there have to be so many of them, and why do they have to be armed to the teeth?” 

Mac rested his back against the crates, panting.  “Because otherwise it would be too easy.”

Jack ducked out from behind the crate, fired off a few shots, and ducked back as a hail of bullets flew his way.  “What are we hiding behind, anyway?  Please tell me it’s not explosives.”

“If they were explosives, we’d have been blown to bits already,” Mac pointed out.

“Good point.”  Jack let out another volley before sitting next to Mac.  “So, how are we supposed to find the victims, anyway?  There must be 50 acres and hundreds containers, not including the ones still on the ship, and they can’t all hold humans.”  He hoped, anyway.

“Actually, the ship’s manifest said there were 1,242 containers on board,” Mac said, helpfully.

“My point exactly!” Jack said.  “It’s like finding a needle in a haystack!”

“Ah, but we’ve got a needle-finder.”  Mac touched his earpiece connecting him to their computer expert, Riley Davis, back at Phoenix headquarters.  “Whatcha got, Ri?”

There was a pause, presumably while Riley pulled up the infrared feed she’d hacked into.  “I’m lit up all over the place.  Let me see. . .” There was another pause.  “You’ve got intense concentrations on Row 27, Row 5, and Row 32.  Looks like the containers you’re looking for might be in those spots.

“Great,” Jack groaned.  “They couldn’t keep them all together.  How are we going to get everybody out?”

Mac thought for a moment.  “Cover me, Jack.” He moved into a crouch, poised to take off.

Jack grabbed his sleeve.  “Just where do you think you’re going, kid?”

Mac yanked his arm free.  “To get those people out of here.”

“Are you crazy?!?”

“Do you have a better idea?” Mac demanded.

Jack sighed.  He didn’t.  “Okay, fine, just be careful.”

Mac grinned.  “Always am.”

He took off as Jack popped up again, drawing their opponents’ fire.  However, a couple of them spotted Mac and started moving towards him.  Jack broke cover and raced towards them, firing madly.  “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size, you assholes!” He yelled.

His tactic worked.  Their attention was now on him.  Unfortunately, Jack was also out in the open, bullets flying past him, some of them way too close for comfort.

Jack plowed into the thugs who’d been after Mac, knocking all of them to the ground in a heap.  Jack recovered first, knocking their heads together and rendering them unconscious.  The agent ducked behind a pile of crates before the remaining thugs could regroup and come after him.

“Dammit, Mac, where are you?” Jack yelled.  Jack didn’t get an answer, but he didn’t really expect one.  “Riley, where’s Mac?”

“I don’t know,” Riley replied.  “There’s too many bodies floating around.”

“Right.  Guess I’m on my own,” Jack said.  He could do this.  He was a soldier, and not just any soldier.  He was Delta Force.  Tactical ops were his forte.  This would be a piece of cake.  Suuuuurrrrrrre, it would.

“I’ve got a flare-up about halfway down Row 12,” Riley’s voice came through the com, interrupting Jack’s thoughts.  “Could be an explosion.”

That sounded like Mac.  Row 12 wasn’t one of the rows Riley had mentioned as potentially having containers of human cargo, but then, Mac would want to draw the smugglers away from those.  “Where’s that?” Jack asked.

“About three rows to your left,” Riley said.

“Got it.”  Jack looked around.  That was behind the thugs still trying to figure out where he’d gone, and it looked like Jack could take cover behind crates most of the way.  Perfect.

Jack crouched down, making his way behind the crates until he reached the row Riley had indicated.  He paused to take stock.  It was a dash of about 100 yards through open space to reach the row.  There was one guy stacking boxes a little further down the pier, but, hopefully, Jack wouldn’t attract his attention.

No such luck.  The guy spotted Jack and opened fire.  Jack returned it, hitting him in the shoulder and causing him to drop his gun.  Jack raced into the row of containers before his opponent could recover.

A wall of heat hit Jack as soon as he entered the row.  He shielded his face from the intensity.  What had Mac done?  Sure, his explosions generated a lot of heat, but it usually dissipated quickly.  Unless the explosion had set off a fire, but Jack didn’t see smoke.

“Mac, you there?” Jack called, making his way down the aisle.  No answer.  The heat didn’t let up, but it didn’t get any worse, either, like it should if Jack was approaching the source.  What was going on?

Jack heard a roar and ducked, bracing himself for another explosion.  Instead, he felt a rush of air, and something passed over him.  Bewildered, Jack looked up.  A huge shadow enveloped him, and he saw—wait, were those _claws_?  And _scales_?  And _100 foot_ _wings_?  Jack rubbed his eyes.  Surely he was imagining things.  He definitely had not just seen a _dragon_ overhead.  Maybe the smugglers were running drugs as well, and Mac’s explosion had set off some sort of hallucinogen.  That had to be it.

Jack decided not to dwell on it.  His training taught him to determine whether it was an immediate threat (no--it had gained height and was already disappearing into the distance), and, if not, dismiss it.  He continued down the aisle.  About halfway, he found a container with the front apparently _melted_ off, and deep gouges in the concrete of the aisle, as if from the claws of a huge creature, like a dragon.  _Get real_ , Jack chided himself.  _There’s plenty of pieces of heavy equipment that would do that_.  Most of them, though, would have left longer trails as they moved, and nothing was in sight.  Once again, Jack shoved those thoughts aside.  That way lay madness.

Jack cautiously approached the container, gun and flashlight in a cross-hold grip.  He swept the container.  Empty.  Wait—was that something back in the far corner?  The lump shifted as he watched.  Alive, then.  It was too large for a full-grown person, and the wrong shape for a child.  Some sort of small animal?  A cat, maybe?  It was about the right size and shape.  Jack knew he should just leave it, but he was too soft-hearted.  It wouldn’t be the first time he’d pulled an animal out of a firefight.  Jack holstered his gun and moved closer, crouching down a few feet away and holding out his hand.  “Hey, there, little one,” he crooned.

His response was a cat-like hiss and a jet of flame that narrowly missed him as he ducked to the side.  As it was, it singed the hairs on his arm.  Ooooookaaaaaaaayyyy.  Definitely not a cat, and not a hallucination.  Last time Jack checked, hallucinations didn’t breath fire, and there was no way that wasn’t real—if he didn’t have the singed hairs on his forearm to show for it, the heat as the flame whooshed by would have been a dead giveaway.  So, in the words of Sherlock Holmes, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.  Dragons it was, then.

A lesser man would have turned tail and run, but Jack Dalton was made of sterner stuff, and he wasn’t going to leave a distressed animal behind, even if it did try to burn him to a crisp.  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he continued in the same voice as before.  “I bet you’re scared, huh, since your mommy left.”

Another hiss and spurt of flame, much smaller this time, came from the baby dragon.  Jack didn’t give up.  “It’s okay.  Why don’t you come here and let me get a look at you?”

The dragon lowered its head and cautiously approached Jack.  He stood, unmoving, waiting for it to make the first move.  It was still in the shadows, but Jack could make out the long snout, the nasty claws, even for a baby, the barbed tail, and the wings currently folded submissively across its back.  It appeared to be a bright emerald green, and, when the light reflected just right, its eyes gleamed gold.  It would be magnificent when it grew up.  Right now, it was just scared.

Finally, it reached Jack.  It sniffed tentatively at his outstretched hand, then rubbed against it.  Jack scratched the side of its head, and it leaned into his touch.  Gradually, he lengthened his strokes until he was stroking its whole body.  It let out a noise that sounded like a contented purr.  “Let’s get you out of here, huh?”

The dragon gave a mrrp, which Jack decided to interpret as agreement.  He removed his backpack and held it open, motioning for the dragon to get inside.

It didn’t seem to like that idea.  It backed up a few steps and let out another belch of flame.  Jack yanked the backpack out of the way just in time.  “Come on,” Jack coaxed.  “If you don’t get inside, I can’t get you out of here.”

The dragon tilted its head, clearly thinking about it.  It gave what Jack swore was a shrug, then approached, crawling into the backpack and turning around until its head was poking out.  Jack slung it over his shoulder.  “Let’s get out of here.”

Jack returned his gun to his hand and made his way to the head of the aisle, cautiously checking both ways to see if anyone was about.  The coast was clear, so Jack started out.  Suddenly, he was struck by an idea.  “You know, you’re pretty good at that flame thing,” he told his companion.  “I think I have a use for you.”

Jack crept along the side of the ship until he came to what he was looking for:  barrels of fuel alongside the ship’s hull.  There were some crates nearby.  If he were really lucky, they’d hold weapons, and he’d get even more bang for his buck, as it were.  Jack pried open one of the crates and nearly crowed.  Jackpot!  It was full to the brim with weapons.

Mac’s voice came in Jack’s ear while he was moving the crates closer to the barrels.  “Everyone’s clear, Jack.  Where are you?”

“Just taking care of one last thing,” Jack said.  “You’re going to love this, Mac.”  He finished positioning the crates and barrels.  He made a trail of fuel, stopping about a hundred feet away.  “Okay, Horatio,” he told his companion.  “Have at it.”

“Horatio?  Who’s Horatio?” Mac asked.

“My new friend,” Jack said.  “You’re going to love him.”

The dragon—Horatio—let out a stream of flame, igniting the fuel and sending it racing towards the pile Jack had created.  Jack didn’t wait around to see the fireworks, instead racing full-tilt towards the entrance to the pier.  The flame reached the pile, and it exploded spectacularly.  Even at a distance, the blast knocked Jack to the ground.

Jack pulled himself to his feet, brushed himself off, and checked his backpack.  “You okay there, buddy?”  Horatio replied with a mrrp.  “Good deal.  Let’s go find Mac.”

Jack made his way to where Mac, Riley, and an army of Phoenix personnel and vehicles were sorting the bad guys out from the victims.  Riley raced towards Jack and flung her arms around him.  “Jack!  We were worried!  We were afraid you got caught in the explosion!”

“Nope, all good,” Jack assured her.

Mac clapped him on the back.  “Nice job, buddy.  That’ll put a crimp in their plans.”

“Wasn’t me, it was Horatio,” Jack said.

Mac looked around.  “So, where is this Horatio?”

Horatio chose that moment to pop his head out of Jack’s pack.  “Mrrp?”

There was dead silence as Mac and Riley stared at the dragon peering at them over Jack’s shoulder.  Mac recovered his voice first.

“Jack, what is that _thing_ in your backpack?”

Jack reached around to scratch Horation under the chin.  “It's my new pet dragon.”

“Dragons aren't real!” Mac practically yelled.

“Then why is there one in my backpack?” Jack asked, reasonably.

Mac didn’t have an answer for that one.  He just stood there, opening and closing his mouth as if to say something before giving up and snapping it closed.

Riley was delighted.  She surged forward to take over scratching the dragon’s chin.  “He’s so cute!  What’s his name?”

“Horatio,” Jack replied.

Mac raised an eyebrow.  “Horatio?”

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” Jack quoted.

“Shakespeare.  I’m impressed,” Mac said.

“What, you think I don’t know Shakespeare?” Jack said.  “Everybody’s read Shakespeare.  I bet even Horatio here’s read Shakespeare.”

“Probably in the original dragon,” Mac deadpanned.

“Mrrp!” Horatio agreed.

Jack looked around.  “Looks like our work here is done.  Let’s go home.”

Mac stopped him as he moved towards the car.  The younger man gestured to Jack’s pack.  “Are you bringing that _thing_ with us?  Sorry, _Horatio_ with us,” Mac corrected at a glare from both his partner and the dragon.

“Of course!” Jack said.  “I can’t leave him behind.  His mom already abandoned him.”

Jack watched a plethora of emotions flicker across Mac’s face as the blond tried to think of a response to that.  “I hope your apartment is fireproof,” was what he said, finally.

“Mrrp!”

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I managed to work in an impressive number of references! I tried to fit in "Here there be dragons," but couldn't quite manage it. :)
> 
> I don't know if Horatio will show up again. I'm not planning on it, but I'm open to the possibility if you guys want.


End file.
